Conversations With Other Women
by il100793
Summary: Slightly AU. What will happen when Dan and Blair have to face each other after many years in Jenny and Nate's wedding? Will they finally have the closure they so desperately need? Based on the film of the same name.
1. Chapter 1

**Conversations with other women.**

_This story is based in the film "Conversations with other women", so you will obviously find a lot of similarities. Enjoy._

* * *

**Chapter 1.**

There he is. At a wedding. Her wedding, his sister's wedding to be more precise. And is not as he would miss it. Of course he would not miss it; he would never miss it. Even if she was marrying one of them. One of the people that made him so much harm so many years ago. Well, he; his new brother-in-law, didn't _hurt him_ per se, but it was by association so of course that he hadn't talked to him since he ran away from the Upper East Side. Since he escaped that world he swears he will never return to. And there he is now, but only because of her sister's wedding. She is family and now he is family so he had to come. Dan had to face them all and most especially Dan had to face her.

Dan had to face Blair Waldorf after all these years. Or was it the other way around? _"Yes"_, Dan repeated to himself, "_She is the one that has to face me. She was the one that left and never contacted me again; I just returned the favor and never aimed to contact her too."_

And that is it. That is what Dan told himself every night since he found out about her sister's engagement to Nate Archibald and their subsequent wedding. That Blair was the one owing him an apology because she left without a last word, not the other way around. Besides, he was not a resentful person and even if he had tried to hold a grudge against these people, against Blair, he decided it was no good and it wasn't like him. He noticed that this world had changed him and that was why he needed to escape. Build his life somewhere else. And he did, he had built and made a life far away from these people and his family many years now.

"He is very respectful. A great guy" Nate was now giving the groom's speech and for whatever reason he decided it was a good idea to mention Dan in it even when they haven't talked to each other for a long time. Guess Nate still thought of Dan as a good person, or maybe he mentioned him because it was the nice thing to do. After all, he was marrying his sister right? That had to count for something. "He introduced us, in a way, me and Jenny" Nate continued, "So I guess I will be eternally grateful."

Nate continues talking but Dan is not paying attention anymore. Instead he is scanning the room, searching for her. He had missed the spiritual ceremony and only appeared in the reception so he hasn't seen her yet. There she is. And Dan is surprised to see her sitting in the wedding party table. Why was she there? And as a bridesmaid? She was not even close to Jenny, or at least that is how he remembered. Maybe a lot has changed since he last set foot in the UES. And apparently a blossoming friendship between her and his sister was one of those changes.

He is still watching her when she decides to stand up from her table, grabs a package of cigarettes and escapes to the women's restroom. He thinks that this is definitely not a Blair Waldorf thing to do; but then again, he once thought he understood her but he had figured her out all wrong. She still is an enigma.

She was looking for a good hiding place to smoke when he decides to just go and talk to her. He decides to let the awkwardness fall behind them as soon as possible to make his night more bearable. He makes his mind up, goes to the open bar and orders two glasses of champagne.

"Wish me luck." He says to the bartender and then makes his way to her. When he finally is standing next to her and she glances at him, he is surprised to see that she is not at all surprised to see him in front of her. He offers her one of the glasses of champagne.

"Thanks, but I don't drink." She tells him as she rejects the champagne.

"You smoke but you don't drink." He remarks.

"Well, I shouldn't do that either but…" She responds.

They both hear cheering sounds. And it reminds Dan that there is a wedding happening around them, that all the people beside him are celebrating Nate and Jenny instead of hiding somewhere in the reception. And then he notices again that she is wearing a bridesmaid dress. A cute pale pink dress, probably one of Jenny's designs.

"I thought bridesmaids were not allowed to smoke."

"Guess I'm not a good bridesmaid after all." She answers him while she is still smoking.

"Don't be too hard on yourself," he kind-of jokes. "The only requirement is that you can fit into the dress."

She smiles. A barely noticeable smile. "How am I doing then?"

"You're doing well." He answers her.

"I was an alternate anyway. The original seventh bridesmaid broke a leg in an unusual accident." She continues, "Well she swore up and down, the bride, that she had intended to invite me earlier, but eh, yeah well, you know how this is. "

"I don't actually." He says and surprises even himself by getting closer to Blair. "Tell me."

"Well, you could say I have history with one of the other guests."

"History? Sounds interesting." He whispers.

"Oh no. It's terribly boring." She whispers back.

"I'm sure that is not true. I love histories; I'm a writer you know?" He continues even when of course she knows, "All those distant related royals fucking each other, ending up with tragic diseases."

"But this is a sad dull real people kind. You know? Mistakes repeated endlessly, lessons remaining unlearned."

He doesn't completely know how to answer to that, so he chooses to guide the conversation to another subject. "So here you are, the bride's eight closest friend in the world."

"I've thought about it." She says while she is still smoking, "And as far as I see it, the only absolute fact is that I'm not one of her top seven friends. I mean, on so short notice she could have asked and be rejected by several other alternatives before she got to me."

"Or," He interjects, "You could be the only person she knew who could potentially fit into the dress."

"Yeah." She realizes, "Therefore, not a friend at all… just a living mannequin to complete the insane symmetry of seven groomsmen and seven bridesmaids."

"Alternatively, you are one of her seven closest friends but, the history you mentioned before prevented her from inviting you, and when the original seventh bridesmaid was taken off by the insane accident, it gave the bride the courage to rekindle her treasured friendship."

"No," She told him as she got even closer and looked directly into his eyes with a smile. "I don't think so because we were never close."

She turned around and Dan was in this strange yet familiar position where he could just smell her hair, like old times.

"There was a two week or something of the sort period when we were almost friends, I think. But I haven't spoken to her; I haven't spoken to any of these people for many years now."

"So this is why a pretty girl like you is standing all by herself?"

"Some of these people used to be my friends, but they aren't anymore." She says and Dan can read in her eyes that she is remembering the old days, when they were all friends, or at least acquaintances. He can almost see that she is remembering them and just when he thinks he's got her, her expression changes completely and she adds. "I'm tired of playing the _let's catch up _game. The endless repetition of what I've been doing and with whom I've been doing. After I finish my prepared speech I just nod blankly as they recite theirs."

"I see."

"They used to be my exes friends. Not mine."

"Not even the groom? Not even the _lavishly beautiful_ made of honor? I really thought at least the groom and the made of honor were your friends."

"Well they sure were," She answers him, "But, after everything we went through, they chose a side and so did I."

"Then why are you here?"

"I asked myself that exact question when I was getting on the plane," She says "And I could only come with two reasons and neither were very good."

"And what were they?"

"Curiosity," She answers, "And… maybe because I just knew I shouldn't."

"Something tells me you are troubled" he says as they both sit in one unoccupied table.

Just when they both are settled they hear as the wedding singer starts speaking: "All right, attention all single woman. Jenny is about to throw the bouquet."

"Oh… sweet." Dan says. "Isn't that your cue?"

She just looks at him as she says: "I'm not single."

"You did say your ex."

"Yeah, I did." She says and she takes of one of the gloves she was wearing and reveals a ring.

"You did marry." It wasn't a question, just a mere observation of what was in front of him.

Blair noticed that Dan was still looking at her so she said: "It's just a ring."

"I heard married woman are not supposed to be bridesmaid."

"Who says?"

"Bridesmaids are brides in training. They are matrimonial interns."

"That is an old retrograde costume." They both stand up facing each other as she adds, "Anyway, I told you I was a bad bridesmaid."

They both made their way to the open bar and she orders a Shirley Temple and he drinks the glass of champagne she refused to drink earlier. "Did your husband come with you?" He asks abruptly.

"No, he couldn't. Not on so short notice."

"What does he do?"

"Do?"

"For a living."

"He's a businessman and let us leave it at that."

"At least tell me where you live now because you obviously do not live in New York anymore."

"We live in London." she says, "Tell me, are you married?"

The dreadful question. To be honest he was expecting it, just not from her. "No, but I have a girlfriend." As if by saying that would make anyone not feel that bad for being unmarried at his age.

"Serious?" she asks.

"Not at all" he just couldn't lie to her, even when she did lie to him in the past, "But I like it, the lack of seriousness. In my opinion, when it gets too serious it might as well be over." He did notice that she was looking at him between bewildered and amused. "What?"

"I just know your kind. I know you so well, or I knew you so well. And you are just not that kind of guy."

"People do change."

"Of course they do, but I don't think that, in this particular aspect, you have changed" She adds. "Anyway, where is that girlfriend of yours?"

"She didn't come," he answers. "She is busy working back in L.A. She is filming a movie."

"Must have a lovely figure."

"Yeah she does." He comments. "Very lovely. She works for it though."

"And there is something wrong in working for it?"

"Not at all, I don't think my partner's figure is of my concern. She does what she wants. "He adds, "It's just that, sometimes I wish I was not so acquainted with the care and maintenance of Olivia's figure."

"Olivia as in Olivia Burke?" asks Blair, "Humphrey, reviving past romances, I wouldn't have taken you for that."

"I told you already that people change." He tells her. "Besides, is not like you are unfamiliar with the whole process of reviving past loves, I would dare to say that you are an expert."

There it was, some of the feelings that Dan still had for what Blair did. They were making their first appearance of the evening.

"I'll give you that" Blair said while she momentarily looks at her Shirley Temple and then as Dan did before by guiding the conversation to another place she said: "Let me tell you something Cabbage Patch, we all have to _work for it_. The ones that claim to be "naturally thin", the ones that say that they can eat anything they want to, they are the ones working hardest, and this is why our society is very fucked up. We as women should not hide these facts or give that importance to weight for that matter, what are we teaching our daughters? The illusion of effortless requires a great effort indeed."

"When you have a daughter you are going to be great, I think. At least you are going to guide her in the self appreciation road."

She looks at him as if to say something but instead just whispers. "Olivia".

"Yes, Olivia."

"Almost as a two syllable poem: Oli-via" She says, "Olivia the actress… I can almost picture her."

Then she grabs another cigarette and lights it up.

"Don't smoke." He says as they both again sit at one of the unoccupied tables. "What would your husband think?"

"Seeing as he has succeeded in leaving it but not before hooking me in the vice," She answers, "I guess he accepts it, but still despises it."

"What is it like to be a businessman's wife?"

"Better than being a writer's wife." She answers, "You see, I kind of experienced both, to an extend at least, not marriage per se, but a serious relationship."

"What's the difference?" Dan asks her and he can't help the look of longing that he lets escape.

"The writer used better ties." She smiles and Dan can't also help looking at his own tie, as to make a sort of comparison, with whom, he doesn't know.

This is when he decides to just let the seriousness of this whole conversation go away and let a light atmosphere enter them, he knows this conversation is not totally awkward but he still feels a little awkward at times. He decides that being with Blair still affects him somehow so he decides to guide the conversation into new territory, yet again.

"You know, I do remember you from before," he says to her, "In fact, I remember the first time I saw you."

"Aha."

"The first time I really, _really_ saw you." He adds, "I was seventeen, and so were you. We were at high school remember, you were all alone, which was rare for you, under a tree reading a book."

"And what was that book?"

"You were reading Persuasion by Jane Austen."

"You are making that up."

"No I'm not," He defends himself, "Why would you say that?"

"People do it all the time," She answers, "Make up little details, connecting truths with half truths. It's like storytelling."

"No, is memory."

"I used to believe that but the older I get, the more I'm aware of the perversity of the human memory. I forget what I want to remember and I just remember what is useless."

"Whatever the book was," he adds, "You were totally absorbed in it. And maybe it was because I didn't knew you that well and didn't knew your behavior with people like me at the time, but I interrupted you and said: You know that class is already starting right?"

"And what did I say?"

"You said: Who are you? And class can wait."

"I never said that."

"Yes you did."

"I did not," she answers him, "Grades were very important to me so I will never miss class, which is why I know you are making this up."

"I assure you that this anecdote is based on true."

"That is interesting," she says, "But let me tell you that it doesn't help your argument, seeing as most fiction is based on truth."

"Very clever."

"Yeah, I'm clever."

* * *

_So what do you think? Do you like this? I'm planning on continuing it but if most of you are finding this story dull please let me know. Also; this story doesn't have a beta so you will find mistakes, hopefully not a lot. I like constructing criticism so in regards of writing, you can tell me how to improve. Anyway, please review. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

They were in the process of continuing their conversation when they noticed how the cameraman approaches them. "Oh, good! I found you; you are the last two people."

"What, on earth?" Dan asks in an attempt to make a joke.

"Right, right, funny." Says the cameraman but doesn't seem to find his joke funny at all. Dan quickly glances at Blair and sees that she is smiling. "No. You are the only two people who haven't done your video testimonials."

Both Dan and Blair seem a little confused so the cameraman proceeds to add: "Testimonials to the bride and groom, congratulating them on their choice, wishing them health and happiness and all that."

"But wouldn't it just be more heartfelt if we did it in person?" Dan asks.

The cameraman looks at them both as if he doesn't know what to say and after an awkward pause says: "This is for the wedding video, for posterity."

"Well, if it is for posterity…" Blair says standing up, "Anyway, how do I look?"

"Good." Says the cameraman.

"Good!" exclaims Dan, "God! She looks fabulous man. You just don't say to Blair Waldorf that she looks good."

"I'm sorry, it's just…"

"Don't worry about him he's just trying to get laid." Blair says as to not make the situation matter too much and Dan can't help looking at her between bewilderment and amusement.

The cameraman directs towards Blair a signal that can only mean that he has started to film her. Blair noticing this starts to talk abruptly. "Jenny, well… I'm certainly glad that I can be here to share your special day." Dan looks at her with a grin and she continues, "And even when I haven't spend much time with either you or Nate these years, hell, we haven't had any sort of communication in the past years until two days ago. Anyway, Jenny you look great in that wedding dress and Nate, you are very handsome in that tuxedo. So, so… I'm not angry that you didn't invite me until you know, the last minute; because if you had invited me before I would probably have thought about it too much and then I wouldn't have come at all. What I'm trying to say is," She smiles at herself, "That I'm really glad that you found each other and that I could be here to share your's and Nate's special day because hey, a wedding only comes once in a lifetime doesn't it? Or more than once, in my case, but hopefully just once for you two." After making a pause she seemed to have finished and adds, "You'll edit this down, won't you?"

"Ohm, that was great, very heartfelt, sincere." Answers the cameraman.

"It was nice." Says Dan while Blair sits again next to him.

The cameraman turns towards Dan and he doesn't bother to stand up when the cameraman says: "Ready?" Dan nods, "And… action."

"Congratulations sis." And he is finished and Blair looks at him with an open mouth, "And that's how it's done."

"Is that it?" asks the cameraman.

"Well, she took up a lot of our time." Dan answers pointing at Blair.

"Hey, short and sweet." The cameraman comments, "I love it, great, awesome. Have fun."

And the cameraman leaves them but stands just near enough of both Blair and Dan, so they can hear him when he says into his own camera: "Ok, eh… camera note 201A. Pretty girl with a slight British or possibly Australian accent, in pink… totally unusable. And the guy with curls, unusable but apparently the brother so, let's find a way to get him in the video."

Both Dan and Blair laugh after hearing this and then Blair asks, "You really don't like Nate, do you?"

"No…," says Dan but then adds, "I do like him it's just, I don't hate him. But we haven't been close or anything, after, what happened." After he says this he notices a tiny bit of sadness in Blair's eyes so he quickly asks, "Why are you asking this?"

"Because in the thing, the testimonial, you just, you only mentioned your sister."

"Well really, I just don't know Nate anymore so I do not know what to say to him. And if my sister is happy with him, then… look I don't want to talk about Jenny and Nate."

She didn't seem to catch up the memorandum or decided to just ignore it because next she asks: "I know that Jenny is a fashion designer, Humphrey Designs or something of the sorts but, what does Nate do for a living? Do you even know?"

"I heard, via Jenny, that he still works at The Spectator, made an empire out of it," when he says the word empire he looks at Blair, she seems to not notice his flinch at the word, "But he also serves as a kind of journalist in there too, writes news or something."

"Well you can't object to that."

"Object to what?"

"To his profession," Blair answers, "You both write, you are both writers now if you look at it; you can't object to that."

"Well, maybe I'm a self-hating writer."

"Are you?"

"Is there any other kind?" Dan asks and then adds, "It doesn't matter. I introduce them, didn't you heard Nate's speech? Anyway, I don't want to talk about Jenny and Nate."

Blair is about to say something when she is interrupted by the wedding singer that is speaking through a microphone: "Everyone on the dance floor… it's the last dance and then we're going to call it a night. Congratulations Jenny and Nate."

They both are now kind of immersed in their own thoughts and the situation is the most awkward of the night until Dan decides to just ask, "Do you dance?"

"You know what," Blair answer's him, "I don't have too many opportunities to dance these past few years. I used to dance quite often before I turned 22, in a gala, in a benefit or something. But now that I'm, well, older than 22, I just, had less occasions for it. I guess the dancing phase of my life is over. " She is now whispering, "I'm afraid my dancing skills had atrophied."

"Maybe I should have been a little bit clearer." Dan says, "I meant: would you dance with me?"

"Yeah, I knew it." Blair answers him with a smile, "I was just rambling, and I didn't know how to answer."

Dan stands up and in front of Blair. He offers her his hand and nods with the head towards the dance floor. "Come on, old times' sake."

"If old times were any good we wouldn't let them get old."

"You'll regret it if you don't."

"I regret a lot of things." Blair says and the sadness returns to her eyes again, "I think one more regret in my life doesn't matter at this point."

Dan doesn't want to make this conversation awkward again, neither for him nor for Blair, so he just says: "You'll regret it, you'll regret it in the elevator when you go back to your room, you'll regret it in the airplane and you'll regret it in ten years when you suddenly think about it and your husband will ask what is up and you would not know how to answer him, so he'll interpret this as a sign of coldness in your relationship and that coldness will turn into a separation and before you know it, your marriage is over; and all of this because you wouldn't dance with me tonight." He tried.

"Okay." Blair says standing up. "But I won't go on the dance floor. Dance floors are depressing at the end of the night, they feel like funerals. Hang on," she says and drinks just a little bit of champagne of his glass, way to break the record.

They walk not towards the dance floor but towards a clear space in between unoccupied tables. "Is this okay?" Dan asks her. She nods. And at that moment he remembers one particular occasion where they found themselves in a similar situation, but instead of today, where they are dancing with the weight of years, in that particular occasion they are dancing with a lightness that neither of them had experienced before, and he was remembering this specific occasion because now and then, they are dancing to Sidney Bechet's _Si tu vois ma mère__._

"I know how old are you, you know?" Dan asks her as they are both still moving in unison to the melody.

"I know."

"And then why you hesitate when you talk about your age?"

"I don't" Blair says but then adds, "Because, it's starting to be a surprisingly large number and I don't like how it sounds."

"I'm the same age as you."

"Oh please," Blair exclaims, "I shouldn't have to tell you that it is different for men, unfair, but it is different."

"You call more attention to it when you hesitate to say your age."

"Good advice." Blair says, "I'll remember that." And they both share a smile.

"So after all of what happened, you moved to London." Dan kind-off asks her.

"After what happened I did move to London, but before I lived in Paris, me and my husband, before establishing in London for real," she pauses, "Let's not talk about it."

"Why?"

"Because…" and now is Blair that doesn't want to make the situation awkward, "If I talk about London I talk about my husband and if I talk about my husband, then, I'll feel too bad about what I'm about to do and then I won't."

"Yeah?" Dan asks, "What are you going to do?"

"Don't be clever." Blair says laughing, "I don't like it when you're too clever."

"Clever?" Dan asks, "Clever played better, I don't know how many years ago, when I had the youthful swagger to go with it."

"Yeah, what plays well now?"

"Sincerity," Dan answers, "When I can fake it. Wisdom if I had it."

And then, they both immerse in their own thoughts. Dan is remembering the weeks after she so suddenly left. When he decided he didn't want to play all vindictive in his new book. He remembers how he was looking for her, searching, reaching for any girl that resembled Blair from behind, without success. That behavior lasted about two weeks. Because after two weeks was when Nate, that still was trying to maintain contact, told him to look at Gossip Girl in an attempt to make him get over Blair. And he did, and he saw, she wasn't even in New York anymore. She wasn't even in the same country, or in the same continent. And that is when Dan finally accepted it, that Blair have left him without a moment's notice. That was the moment he decided to begin a new life away from all of these people, away from all these memories that hurt him so much.

He was still remembering this when Blair touches his shoulder slightly to make him notice that the music had stopped a long time ago.

"Where is everyone?" Dan asks.

"I don't know." Blair answers, "I was just as lost as you were."

And they decide to stop dancing and walk again towards the open bar. "Can we have another drink please?" Blair asks this time.

The bartender just walks away and they both laugh. "He completely ignored us." Dan says.

"There was a time when I thought I saw you in the street." Dan told her, "And it turned out you were in London. This is just how New York is. Someone you once thought that you knew very well could leave the country and you wouldn't even know it."

"Of course," Blair tells him, "You don't know me very well."

"True," Dan tells her and even when he feels something in his chest he manages to smile, "That is very true." He pauses and then adds, "You know you're killing me?" he tells her and gets a little bit closer to her, "And that's truth."

She looks at him momentarily and then starts walking away. He follows her and then asks: "And you will be here how long?"

She turns around to face him and answers: "My plane leaves at 6:00 a.m. and I guess I will leave the hotel at 4:00a.m… It was so last minute that I can only stay a night."

"The curse of the seventh bridesmaid." Dan whispers and then looks at his clock, "I mean, you should get to bed."

"You're right, I should." Blair whispers back, "I will probably just go upstairs and watch T.V., to kill time."

Dan looks around and the waiters are already cleaning tables and glancing at them occasionally. "They really want us to leave."

Blair laughs. "You think?" She sarcastically asks him.

He laughs too. "Ohm… where should we go?"

She looks at him a little taken aback and says: "Well, I should go up to my room and you should go to yours and then back to Olivia, the actress."

"Or we could stay here." Dan interjects.

She stares at him and then turns around, Dan follows her and she suddenly faces him again and asks him abruptly: "Do you want to watch some television with me?"

"You mean I should?" Dan answers her with a question.

"I think you will anyway."

They both smile at each other and Dan holds her hand for the first time in the night and they both walk towards the elevator.

"Hang on," Blair suddenly says.

"What?"

"Doesn't it remind you...? Never mind." Blair says and of course Dan knows what she was about to talk about, it was too obvious. Before he had time to say anything she says, "If we get in we're committing to a course of action."

"We're committing to a 30 second elevator ride."

She just looks at him and says: "Let's just stand here for a second." They do not stand there for long when suddenly one of the other bridesmaids surprises them; it was the _lavishly_ beautiful made of honor.

"Hey guys." Serena greets them and then adds, "What is everyone looking at?" Serena hasn't seen neither Dan nor Blair for many years now, ever since that night and after all this time, the only thing she seems to be able say is _what is everyone looking at? _The situation could not be more awkward.

"So, Serena," Blair begins, "What have you been up to all these years?"

Dan was surprised that Blair started the small talk; didn't she tell him that she hated that game?

"Nothing much," Serena answers, "Traveling here and there, organizing charities and galas. I married Carter Baizen after all, so I'm now Serena Baizen."

"S.B.," Blair whispers to herself, "The last name certainly suits you."

"And what about you, Blair?" Serena asks, "I heard you married him. You know, I still couldn't believe it, that you married him after all, but hey, you did. That is how destiny works."

"Well, I believe you make your own destiny." Dan interjects, mainly because he doesn't want to hear what Blair has to say about her husband anymore. He just doesn't.

"Listen, I'm so very tired that I didn't even notice the elevator had arrived." Blair begins.

"Oh, you poor thing." Serena says. "Jenny told me you came all the way from London." Blair nods, "And what were you waiting for?" Serena asks Dan.

"Hmm…" Dan doesn't know how to begin, "Ladies first?"

Serena laughs one of her typical laughs. "You are so polite." She tells him while she kind of taps his shoulder.

"Ladies first." Dan repeats and then the three of them get into the elevator.

"And what floor are you going to?" Serena asks Dan while Blair stands in the corner of the elevator just looking at him. When she hears Serena's question she smiles to herself.

"Ah… I don't know." Dan answers. Serena laughs again, "Honestly, I do not remember."

"Well, I'm… I'm going to the eleventh floor" Blair says and Serena doesn't pay any attention to her at all, she just looks at Dan.

"Eleven, I'm going to the eleventh floor." Dan says to Serena and it seems that she did heard what Blair said because she stops laughing and says, "That is funny."

Awkward silence until Serena talks again, "Nice dress" She says to Blair.

"Thanks." Blair smiles, "You look better in it actually."

"Ah, well, you know…" Serena begins but doesn't finish and the silence takes place again. "Do you… did you arrived together or something?"

"Oh, no, no, not at all" Blair says.

"Aha." Serena says and then turns to Dan, "How is Olivia doing? Jenny told me about your relationship."

"Good."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"Good."

"Yes."

"She wasn't here tonight, was she? I didn't…"

Dan laughs and he doesn't even know why, well maybe he does, Serena is too obvious in her intentions anyway, "No she didn't came, she is filming back in L.A."

"Ah yes, she is an actress after all. God, what a talent she used to have."

"Still has," Dan tells Serena.

"She is so beautiful too," Serena says, wanting more for Blair to hear her comments than Dan, "Amazing, amazing. And so…"

"Skinny?" Blair suggests.

"Yes." Serena answers, "I will murder for her body, there's just no one hotter in the world as Olivia, and I saw a picture of her recently." Now it was just too obvious what Serena wanted to do. "This is my floor," Serena said when the elevator opened at the seventh, "Give Olivia my best regards,"

"Bye," Blair tells her while she gets out of the elevator.

"Bye Blair," Serena answers and the elevator door closes between them.

* * *

_So? What do you think after these two chapters? I'm still debating some ideas, one thing in particular can you guess which thing? Anyway, as I said, this doesn't have a beta so any mistakes, please do point them out so I can correct them. Thank you for everyone that is reading the story (my traffic stats say what my reviews doesn't). I really hope you are liking it and do not think of it as too much of a rip-off. (Although, it totally is, well, not totally, but a lot is, so whatever.)_


	3. Chapter 3

In this chapter there is going to be smut. But of couse some of you already expected this. Just a fair warning: I am no good in writing it. I did my best but still, do not have great expectations.

* * *

Serena had just left the elevator when Dan and Blair found themselves alone again. "Is that going to give you trouble?" Blair asked Dan referring to the whole hints Serena made of Olivia.

"I don't even know what to say." Dan answered. "I mean, it doesn't really matter."

"Yikes"

"God, people should mind their own business." Dan said while his cell phone rang at the moment. It was Olivia.

"Is that Olivia the actress?" Blair asked him.

"People should mind their own business." Dan said not trying to be rude but he could tell Blair was already feeling a little bit awkward. He ignores the call. Just then the elevator doors open in her floor and they both get out.

"Serena…" Blair begins, trying to restart again the conversation and trying to discuss what Serena said.

"Serena is meaningless." Dan assured her.

"She makes everything seem so consequential."

"What do you mean consequential?"

"You know…" Blair began, "Like there is going to be consequences."

"Who?"

"Serena."

"I don't remember seeing her." Dan said smiling.

"Yes, she was wearing a bridesmaid's dress… like mine." Blair said, "She was in the elevator."

"A woman in a bridesmaids' dress in the elevator?" Dan said, "Apart from you, there was no one like that. I would have remembered her. What woman in the elevator? There was no one."

And just like that Blair smiles. She's got to give it to Dan. His rambling when he was quasi-nervous still made her smile. They start walking towards her room. "What about Olivia?"

"Never heard of her." Dan says.

"Your girlfriend…"

"I don't have a girlfriend."

Blair seems confused but lets it go. "What about my businessman?"

"Who?"

"My husband."

"You're not feeling good are you?" Dan asks her, and Blair nods. "I should take you straight to bed. Which way? By the way."

"Over here." Blair answers pointing to a nearby room. "Here's the key." Dan opens the door for her and they both get in.

First thing in the room, Dan starts scanning it and Blair goes to the mirror to get her earrings off. "You have a message." Dan says looking at the answering machine.

"Yes, I do." Blair kind-of answers looking at the machine too.

"Aren't you going to check it?"

"No, I know who it is," Blair answers, "And what he said."

"Ah" So it's a he!"

"Of course he is a he." Blair says, "He's my husband."

"And what does he want?"

"Well, he wants to know how I am." Blair answers, "He wants to know, you know, if I enjoyed myself at the wedding, if it wasn't too awkward, if I remembered to call the wake-up service. He wants to tell me the minutiae of his life and hear mine in return. This is what husbands and wives do, and we do that now, we finally got there in our lives, after all."

"No. He wants' to check on you." Dan tells her. "I know him."

"How do you even know you know him?" Blair says, "Never mind. He doesn't want to check me out. He trusts me. You know what? I'm very reliable."

"Yeah, you never used to be." Dan says, a little bit bitter, remembering how she had left him.

"You know what?" Blair says, trying to divert whatever Dan was remembering, "Suffice is to say that there are many things that I used to be and that I am no longer. And there are also things that I never thought I could be and that I unexpectedly am."

Dan just smiles and looks at her while she takes off her shoes, smiles at him and lies in bed.

"Well…" Dan begins to say.

"Well?"

"Well, I'm here."

"Yes." Blair says, "Here you are."

"What now?"

"I don't know." Blair says smiling, "I wonder what two lonely people in a hotel room do when no one's watching."

"What makes you think that I'm lonely?"

"Your relationship is not serious."

"I'm not lonely." Dan says and then adds, "You're lonely too."

"Everyone's lonely." Blair answers him. "Of course I'm lonely. One day I woke up in a strange country surrounded by strangers."

"You didn't have to go."

"I know."

"Why are you here?"

Blair smiles to herself before answering him, "To fuck you."

"To fuck me?" Dan says smiling too.

"Yes." Blair answers, "And then to go home… if that's all right."

"Fuck me and go home." Dan repeats, "And to be the seventh bridesmaid in my sister Jenny's wedding."

"Yeah and that too." Bair says, "Christ, what would Jenny think? What would anyone think?"

"Jenny, she's a sweet girl. And in regards of everyone," Dan says smiling, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

"I'm a sucker for quoting classical films and you know it." Blair smiles, "You might as well strip now."

"Excuse me?"

"Take your clothes off." Blair says still from the bed.

"Oh yeah?" Dan asks with a grin.

"Yeah, so I can get a good look at you." Blair answers, "I'll like to see what I'm getting into."

"Fine." Dan says taking his shirt and tie off while looking at Blair. She looks at him too, she laughs. "What?" Dan asks her and laughs too, while he takes off his undershirt.

"Oh my god, you're fat!" Blair says laughing in a non-cruel way. "I'm sorry."

"I am not…" Dan says and puts his undershirt again.

"Yeah you are," Blair tells him, "You're far fatter than you used to be."

"And you're far crueler than you used to be."

"I'm sorry," Blair says, "I didn't mean it that way. It was an observation."

"If I was woman," Dan tells her walking towards her, "We wouldn't be having sex right now."

"I'm sorry. Come on," Blair says getting on her knees in the bed to observe him better, "How much have you put on? 15 pounds?"

"10 pounds!" Dan says insulted.

"You see, you're not exactly obese." Dan looks at her in bewilderment, "I wouldn't even call you burly."

"Thank you." Dan says sarcastically.

"I'm sorry," Blair says again,"This was different, I wasn't expecting it. You used to be so thin, almost fragile."

"God, the compliments keep coming." Dan says and gets even closer to her, face to face.

"Yeah, but now," Blair starts looking at him, "Look at it this way, there is a certain grandees to you. Like, the rings on a tree trunk asserting the passage of time, like saying: _I have gained the right to fill more space in the universe."_

"That's bullshit." And they both laugh.

"I tried," Blair says, "You know I'm not good at words, not like you anyway."

"Olivia keeps trying to get me to diet." Dan tells him sitting next to her in the bed.

"Oh hey," Blair says patting him on the back," Relax _tree trunk_."

"Oh god" Dan exclaims. "Is that your new nickname to me? Has it replaced cabbage patch?"

"Never, cabbage patch." Blair tells him. "You know, it's funny because I feel like you're a little boy and I'm an older woman."

"We have exactly the same age."

"Yeah but somehow I feel so much older than you." Dan looks at her in the eyes, "Why do you think that is?" she asks him.

Dan doesn't answer her. Or at least not with words. What he does next surprises her, heck; it even surprises him even when they both were expecting it. He kisses her, and it's like, _reconnecting_. Like all the words they talked to each other until now that night had not reunited them as that kiss was doing right now. But as everything good in life, and everything that lacks oxygen, it had to come to an end. And it did, and it hurted.

They looked at each other. Their noses touch and Blair speaks up first: "God, why are we doing this? 'Cause it didn't help anything before, did it?" Dan just kisses her stomach while she still wears her dress, "And it so not going to help anything now… God, you put that champagne in front of me. I so knew this was going to happen." Dan is looking at her now with a smile, "I looked at that glass and I thought: _Fuck, Fuck, and Fuck_." Dan laughs at her, "No, it's not funny. I am married to a well respected businessman and I so try to do the right thing but this… there's something about you that sends me in the opposite direction." Blair looks at him, "Is not going to turn out well." She looks away, "There are no happy endings in our future."

Dan exhales hugging her. "I know that."

"Do you?" she asks him while caressing his neck.

"I knew."

"Okay." Blair says and gets out of bed. "Dress off." She walks towards the full body mirror and starts releasing her hair from the required hairstyle Jenny requested. Dan follows her, hugs her, and then sits in a chair next to the mirror and starts taking his shoes off. His socks are next. "Do you need help?" He asks her. Blair nods and he gets up and unzips her dress. Takes it off from her and then explores her body. "What would have you done without me?" Dan asks her.

"Struggle." Blair whispers.

"You might have been stuck on that bridesmaid's dress for the rest of your life." Dan tells her hugging her from behind.

"At least until I've gotten back to London."

"London." Dan whispers. "Should I call you if I'm ever there?"

"No." Blair tells him, "No way." She turns around and gives him a quick kiss on the lips, "You wouldn't recognize me anyway."

They look at each other. Dan is thinking and then, then he caresses her shoulders. He gets on his knees and starts kissing her stomach again, this time she is not wearing the dress anymore.

"I want you to listen to me." Blair tells him.

"After." Dan whispers still kissing her stomach and getting nearer her sensible area at each kiss.

"No, now" Blair insists. "A woman never has a man's intended focus as much as she has it before sex. Come on."

Dan, who is still kissing her stands up abruptly and tells her with short breath, "Speak up, then."

"You can't carry on living like this," Blair tells him looking at him directly in the eyes.

"And?"

"That's it." Blair tells him. "That's all I wanted to say."

"Okay." Dan says holding her hands within his, "Thank you." He says while quickly kissing her.

"You're welcome." And he gets on his knees and starts kissing her body once again. The familiarity is unexpected. Well, not really. He starts getting down once again and gets to her sensible area. He kisses her over her knickers. She quietly moans. He goes down and starts kissing her legs now. He is in between kissing and smelling her, absorbing her aroma, as if trying to remember. He starts taking off her stockings and that is when he sees it. A scar in her left leg.

"Oh," He whispers, "What's this?"

"It's a scar."

"Is it new?"

"Not so new."

"It's new to me."

"Oh, how did you get it?" He asks while kissing the scar softly.

"In my bicycle." Blair answers him. "You know how I told you I lived in Paris before living in London? I lived alone for a while. I wanted to find myself, be independent and well, I naively thought that transporting myself through the city was being independent. What happened was that I was in my my bicycle and I got hit by a car."

"Was it serious?" Dan looked sincerely concerned and he proceeded to kiss her scar again.

"I was in the hospital for six months."

"You could have called me." Dan looks at her, "I would have gone there without hesitating, even, in spite of what happened."

"I know, and I thought of it."

"But you didn't call me."

"I wanted to be alone."

"You come again after a long time, and you come back damaged." Dan jokes.

"I'm sorry." Blair smiles.

"Gosh," Dan tells her, "This whole body," he says hugging her again, "Used to be mine, and it now belongs to someone else."

"It doesn't belong to anybody; it never belonged to anybody but me. It is mine, I just let you _borrow_ it for a while, and it is now _borrowed _by my husband. But it is mine."

"Yep." Dan tells her, "its like when you drive by your childhood home and you find another family living there."

Blair starts walking towards the bed but Dan stops her, "Whoa! Come here." Blair gets back at him and Dan hugs her legs while saying: "If I told you that I love you, that I've always loved you, that I love you to distraction, would you leave him?"

"No." Blair says sharply and walks towards the opposite side of the room, the bed between them. She gets into the bed and Dan just looks at her, not knowing what to say.

Blair gets under the covers and starts stripping under them, teasing Dan. He smiles, remembering another time when sex between them was uncomplicated and easy. Poetical. He stands up, gets next to the bed and starts stripping. With nothing on he gets under the covers and next to Blair. They look at each other. "What are you thinking?" He asks her.

"That this is probably a mistake."

He exhales, "And what are you thinking now?" She doesn't answer so he continues, "You're not suppose to think about this until at least twenty minutes after we're done."

"What are _you _thinking?" She asks him.

"I'm thinking about that girl I used to know," He pauses, "lying under a tree…"

"Don't think about her."

"… Reading a book. Why?"

"I can't compete with her."

"You don't have to compete with her."

"Liar."

"We don't have to do this."

"As if the act itself matters."

"It does matter."

"It's a technicality." She exhales, "Don't you know what we've already done?"

They start kissing and this time it is with lust, and passion. Between these two it is always with a hint of passion. Their kisses are now wild and aiming for more. Blair gets on top of him while still kissing him. Dan holds her, hugs her; caresses her breasts and her nipples. She moans and he moans. She traces a road with her digit in Dan's chest until reaching his erection, he kisses her neck, she grabs it in her hand and he moans in her ear. "Blair" he whispers, "Stop teasing." And she stops doing so and positions his erection in her entrance. He enters her. It is now her turn to moan. "Dan," and it was the first time in that night that she calls him by his name, she reserved the use of his name for a very intimate moment and she guesses this was it. "Stop teasing, and move with me." He manages to sit up and she is now on his lap and they move in unison. Slow, then getting velocity, quickly, then slow again. They get their own pace. Dan caresses again her nipples and the sucks the left one while still massaging her right one. She moans and then starts massaging her clitoris, where she ends and he begins. They are both moaning now, loud and clear. And then, they both hit it, get there. Blair first, she starts moaning and shacking uncontrollably and then, so does he. They shout their respective names. And then it was over.

Lying now next to each other, looking at each other, in the aftermath, Dan is the first to talk: "Your skin is different as I remember it. The texture is different."

"What? Rougher?"

"No, not rougher." Dan says while massaging Blair's shoulder. "Just more paper than it used to be."

"You sweat more." Blair tells him. "And you smell."

"Thank you."

"And you're fat." Dan laughs as he hears this. They both laugh.

"Your hair is shorter."

"Yep?" Blair asks.

"I liked it long."

"I bet Olivia has long hair."

"No."

"Bet she does. Show me a photo."

"I don't have one with me."

"Send it to me then."

"I don't know your address."

"If you don't…" Blair begins, "… Have a photo of Olivia with you it means you don't love her."

"I know how she looks like. Why do I need her picture?"

"To show it to other people." Blair says, getting out of bed.

"Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom." She answers him. "Is that right?"

"Can I come?"

"No."

* * *

What are you thinking so far of the story? There is a certain road I am thinking but what are your assumptions? How will these two end in your perspective? Like to hear your opinion, even constructive criticism. Until the next update!


	4. Chapter 4

**So, this is, I believe, the penultime chapter. At most, there are two more chapters after this one. I really hope you are enjoying this so far.**

* * *

Dan finds himself alone in the room's bed while Blair is in the bathroom. They are both having their space right now, alone. Reflecting on what had just happened. Blair is thinking on what would had happened if she had just left Dan while they were dancing and returned to her room alone. _"I would have ordered room service and watched television"_ she tells herself, _"And, I would not be feeling this confused right now."_

In the meantime, Dan has already put on his undershirt and is debating himself of whether he wants or not to listen to the message she has received earlier on the room's telephone. He was curious, man, he was so very curious. He wants to have at least an idea of what is her life at the moment. How she has managed to construct everything again while he is still figuring how to glue the pieces together again. He lets his curiosity win, picks up the phone, and starts listening.

"You have one new message, click one to listen to it" He clicked, "Message received at 2:31 p.m."

He prepares himself to listen to whatever he has to listen.

"Hello gorgeous." A man's voice said _"his husband, obviously" _Dan told himself, "Sorry we missed you. Everyone's fine. Anya wanted to talk to you before bed."

Then, a little girl's voice began to speak; "Hi, remember to get the snowboard. Ok mummy?" And another girl's voice, Dan judged that she was older than the first girl, "And something for me too. Whatever you want."

"How magnanimous of you, Eliza." Blair's husband spoke again. "We'll try you again in the morning. Hope everything went fine, nothing awkward I wish. Be sure to take a photo in that bridesmaid's dress. That's for me, by the way. Love you. Everybody say _I love you_."

"I love you" both girls said. "Come soon, bye bye."

"Love you," her husband said again. "Call early if you want. I'm going to take a run."

End of message…

Dan hangs the phone, and he really doesn't know what to think. What is he supposed to think? At the least, he is bitter, he feels betrayed even when he knows she is married, but he didn't expected for her to have a family. _A complete family_. She has completely moved on. "Oh my god," he tells himself, "I am just the… the _mistress_."

He hears a whisper in the bathroom and because he knows he has already begun to meddle in her business, he decides to just finish the business. He stands up, walks to the bathroom, and begins to listen through the door.

"Hey. Hi, it's me. I didn't wake you, did I?" Blair is speaking to her husband in her cell phone, "No. Hum, it was… it was dull. Boring, boring, boring. Not much happened." Blair is now feeling more than confused, also guilty, now. She shouldn't have done it, not only to her husband, but to Dan as well. "I miss you."

"Would you mind if I use the bathroom?" Dan asks from outside partly because he does want to go to the bathroom and partly because he wants Blair to know that he is still outside, and that he is listening.

"It's fine." Blair tells him in a loud voice, "Can you leave it by the door?"

Well, now he is confused. Blair opens the door suddenly, she tells him with a look that he should stop talking. "Oh, I'm sorry; I didn't knew you were on the phone." Dan whispers. She closes the door again.

"Hi." She continues her conversation, "Oh, it was just room service. I know I shouldn't eat this late but, the food on the plane was horrible and then the food at the weeding was really off. Mhm? The tip? Oh the tip! Of course, thank you." She starts pretending to be looking for change in her purse, just to make a noise. "My mind is so gone. One second." She opens the bathroom door again and finds that Dan is still listening. "Have a good night."

"Thank you very much, madam. You look very nice by the way," Dan begins talking in a very fake female voice, "Enjoy your stay…" He doesn't finish, Blair closes the door in his face.

"Hi. Yeah, the waiter was very friendly." She starts talking on the cell phone again, "Oh I'm, I'm having, you know, french fries, french onion soup, and french toast, I think. And a pickle. What? Yeah, so very french except for the pickle. Uhm... I'm still thinking about it." She begins to whisper and looks under the door to see if Dan is still listening, "No, I'm still thinking. Yeah? Uhm, okay. I'll phone you before I get on the plane. All right, yes. I love you too. Ok. Yes love, bye."

She stands up and opens the door.

"I didn't knew you were on the phone." Dan tells her.

"I saw your feet under the door."

He smiles. "Well, you recovered very well. That was good."

"It's quite easy to lie once you get started." She tells him and starts walking towards the mirror.

"Well, I'm sorry."

"You could have put me in a really awkward situation."

"Well," He walks towards her, "I knew you would be ingenious and you were." He sits in the chair next to the mirror.

"Yeah, but what was the point?"

"To see you squirm."

"That's not very nice."

"You see, I wanted him to know that I exist."

"Of course he knows you exist."Blair whispers, "How could he not?"

"You don't have any secrets?"

"No. Nothing significant. No."

"So you'll tell him you made love to me tonight?" He is now bitterer.

"Maybe, someday." She walks towards him and he manages to take the cell phone out of her hand.

"Somehow, I doubt that." Dan tells her. He opens the cell phone. "Mister, Mr. Businessman. Hello?" Dan looks at Blair. "Should I call him?"

"No." Blair answers.

"Should I call him and tell him what we just did?"

"No!" Blair says clearly annoyed.

"Would that spoil things between you?"

"It might." She says from the bed, where she is sitting now. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Would it spoil things so much that you couldn't go back to London?"

"No. Not that much because I have a job up there, and a dog, and a house."

"_And a family",_ he thinks.

"And a husband," he says pointing at the cell phone.

"And a husband."

"Hey, Mr. Important-Businessman," Dan again pretends that he is speaking to her husband, "My heart has been broken by your wife."

Blair stands from the bed, walks towards him and instead of doing what Dan was expecting, which was to try to get her cell phone away from him, she grabs his cell phone which is in the table next to where he is sitting.

"Oh, you want to play that game." Dan tells her.

"Now I get to phone Olivia the actress." Blair says and starts clicking random numbers on the phone while Dan starts to do the same.

"Go ahead."

"You don't care?"

"Not really."

"That's awful." Blair tells him.

"It is what it is."

"I hate that phrase." She says, closing his cell phone. "It sounds like dying."

He closes her cell phone as well. "What was your last serious relationship before your marriage like?"

"You know perfectly well how it was like."

"Refresh my memory."

"No."

"Honest, I can't remember." She watches him and crosses her arms, "The memory starts failing around 40."

She closes her eyes because they begin to water and she doesn't want him to notice. "It was red and it was kind of yellow. And black, and pink. And orange and blue."

"What the hell is that?"

"Purple, and indigo," She opens her eyes and starts laughing, "And maybe a little bit of..."

"Hey." He stops her, "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," She is still laughing, "It is what I see when I close my eyes."

"Come on!" He tells her, "That's a bullshit answer."

She stands from the bed, walks towards him, and demands for her cell phone.

"Ask nicely." He whispers with a smile. She doesn't say anything because that is not how Blair Waldorf goes around life so he eventually hands her the cell phone. She puts it on her night table along with his. Oddly, she notices, they are the same model.

"I love him." She answers his question while looking him in the eyes. "I loved him. But sometimes, people who really love each other, well, they have an uncanny ability to make each other miserable. I mean, of course you are happy, and you are happy for a very long time, but this uncanny ability makes its appearance and makes you, me, doubt everything. Is this real? Is this really happening to me? Am I this lucky? And me, I couldn't live with those doubts, I needed safe, Dan, I needed safe, and really safe. Safe in the sense that I didn't wanted to have doubts that you were once going to realize that you deserved better. And just walked away. I didn't want to be in a relationship where I could be hurt so much in a heartbeat. You had me wrapped around your finger. You see, when I gave you my heart I really meant it. But I was so insecure, and I had been deceived so many times before that I had to be careful. And I realized that you don't need, don't deserve careful. You deserve someone who is willing to give everything to you, to embrace everything you have to offer. And I realize it wasn't me, I couldn't, I was too hurt, and many mistakes were done before you, Dan. So I left."

"And now?" he asks her and looks at her, with teary eyes, but he controls himself.

"And now I'm happy." Blair answers him with teary eyes as well, "Of course I'm happy. Yeah, I'm happy. I needed safe and safe is what I got. But sometimes, I do miss the banter. It can be terribly romantic. It is the true."

"Do you want to know how my last serious girlfriend was like? How the last woman involved with my life was like?"

"No. I have no interest in other women." She says while smiling again, Dan smiles too.

"She was a great fuck."

"Wow."

"She was a great fuck." Dan continues, "And a great friend. No, scratch that; she was an excellent friend."

She just looks at him and then decides she needs to sit down. So she walks towards the armchair near the bed and sits. He stands up too and walks towards the window, opposite side of the room.

"You know I…" Dan starts talking. "I have to confess, I, I checked the message." She looks at him with bewilderment and with realization. "He called you, you couldn't be bothered. Remember, the red blinking light. It was really annoying during sex."

She just asks, "Why?"

"I wanted to know how he sounded like."

"And how does he sound like?"

"Like Neil Young."

"Hm," Blair whispers, "I haven't thought about it. Maybe a little."

"Foreign, cool." Dan says, "I hated him immediately."

"Probably, you would really like him."

"No, I hated him with a passion that I didn't know I was capable of anymore."

"For my sake?" Blair smiles at him.

"Yes, for your sake." Dan leans in the window, "Of course for your sake, you silly girl."

"I'm not a little girl anymore."

"Don't you want to know what the message said?"

"No."

"It said," Dan starts walking across the room, "That he loves you and he misses you. And wants you to call before you leave. In fact, he is going for a jog. He'll be up early so don't be afraid to call."

"Thank you."

"Yeah," Dan says, "You know? I… I… To tell you the truth, I just, I just expected more."

"A soliloquy from Hamlet?"

"No, but it was all just so ordinary." Dan tells her, "I mean, the man, the man that marries you should be extraordinary."

"Dan," Blair says smiling, "I'm done with the extraordinary. I'm too old for extraordinary."

"And how old would that be?"

"I've been too old for extraordinary for some time now."

"And that's my fault I suppose?"

"Yeah" She laughs, "God, you would love to think that, don't you?"

"Would you indulge me with something?" He asks walking towards her.

"Probably."

"And this will be unpleasant for you but there are some things that I would _love_ to say," He kneels in front of her, "In fact, which I _need_ to say."

"It won't matter anyway."

"Ok, it probably won't."

"Sad old story that everyone has forgotten, even me."

"No, don't say that."

"But I have, of course I have." Blair tells him, "I needed to forget so I could go on. And if I hadn't I wouldn't be here. When it comes to it," she starts whispering, "It is just stories of girls you used to know that read books under trees."

"No, I thought about it well, and you were not reading Persuasion."

"And what was I reading?"

"I don't know… something by Dorothy Parker," He laughs remembering another anecdote, another time. She smiles because she remembers as well their whole _saloon_ failure.

"I was not reading Dorothy Parker."

"But it was something by a woman."

"It was _The House of Mirth_ by Edith Wharton."

"Fine, it sounds about right."

"Not about, I was reading that book…"

"Okay. You were lying under a tree reading a book by Edith Wharton."

"The House of Mirth."

"The House of Mirth." He agrees with her and then continues, "It was the end of summer, a little muggy."

"Actually, there was a breeze."

He ignored that, "And everyone else was walking towards the building because class was about to start. I could tell that you didn't want to be disturbed so I said: _You know that class is already starting right?_ And you said…"

"Who are you? And class can wait." Blair completed.

"Ala." Dan smirks, "And then you waved me away like your servant but I wouldn't desist so I took you by the hand and I said: _You look like someone who cares, so no, it wouldn't_. Your book dropped to the ground,"

"You got me by surprise." Blair tells him.

"And then, I don't know why, but I kissed you… on the mouth. Right there, and then."

"I remember now, and it wasn't in high school, it was not the first time you saw me at all."

"I told you the memory started to fail at 40." He smiles, "But the scenario is true, and the kiss is true, and it all happened, not in high school, it happened later, but it happened."

"How long we were into our relationship then?"

"I wouldn't call it a relationship, per se. You see, you told me before that you knew that being a businessman's wife was better than being a writer's wife. And you said that because you were in a serious relationship with a writer and yes, it was serious. But that was not all, and I let you play along because that is just how I am. But you have to admit it now, Blair. It happened."

"All right Dan," Blair says, smiling, "How long we were into our marriage then?"

"Six months."

"Not so long, then."

"Not so long."

"And then what happened?" Blair asks him.

"It was the end of the summer. We were in the Hamptons so we returned to the city."

"And then?"

"Well, we bought curtains, we… walked the dog, and we cooked meals for two. We finally finished school. We had sex once in the morning and once in the night; sometimes once in between."

"Sometimes twice." Blair reminds him.

"But sometimes you were alone, sometimes I was alone. Your husband was young, so he was foolish and careless."

"No."

"And you were pregnant."

"No."

"And you ran away." Dan says sighting, remembering, "You ran as far as you could get. You ran to Paris, and then to London, you met a businessman and then married him. You divorced me in between that, of course. Is that the ring I gave you?"

"No."

"It looks like it."

"It's a ring, it's a wedding ring." Blair tells him, "It is white gold and round." Dan touches the ring and she pulls her hand away, "What happened to the husband? The first, or was it, the second husband?"

"The second husband, remember that ass Louis." Dan answers her, "Well, he, the second husband, sometimes he thinks about ending it, his life."

"That is not like him."

"Yeah," Dan tells her, "Sometimes he can't bear it. He can't bear the loneliness." He stands from the floor and lies on the bed instead. "And one day you're at a wedding and a man, offers a glass of champagne to you. You tell him you don't drink anymore. The man makes stupid jokes; the man thinks that if he talks fast enough the woman might not notice."

She stands from the armchair and goes to the bed and cuddles with. "Might not notice what?"

"That he is the same," Dan answers her, "It would be as if she met him for the first time."

"Does it work?"

"For a while, anyway." He responds, "She takes him to her hotel room but as soon as the lights go down, she recognizes him. She's one of those people who see things better in the dark." He can smell her hair now.

"And then?"

"And then," Dan whispers to her ear, "It is all over."

"It's over." She says, and they kissed. And then she suddenly stands up from the bed and runs, opens the door and runs, in her sleeping robe, away. He doesn't have time to think, he stands from the bed quickly, grabs the hotel room's key and follows her, because it is what he always tries to do. He tries to find her.

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**Uhm... so what do you think? Did you liked that? Did you expected that? Anyway, I really hope there are no errors in the continuity, or if there are, hopefully they are not major ones and that you can ignore them. **

**The book that Blair was reading, The House of Mirth. In the movie, it is the original book that it is mentioned, and I was going to change it to the Belle Jar, or maybe The Age of Innocence, but, The House of Mirth, I think, it is very appropriate for Blair in canon. **

**Anyway, I'm going on vacation this Friday and I don't know when I'm coming back, I'll try to upload something on Thursday, but there are no promises. Thank you again, and enjoy your summer.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.**

_So, I am really sorry for not updating in about two weeks. I hope no one abandoned the story. Also, this is the last chapter._

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He knows she didn't leave the hotel because she is only in her robe, so he decides to give it a shot and see if he can find her at the rooftop. She is there, giving him her back, looking at the city. He exhales in relief. He gives a few steps towards her, deciding what he is about to say next.

"You could leave him." He finally decides.

"Don't want to." She tells him still without facing him.

"You could leave him." He repeats.

"I won't."

"You could leave him." He insists.

"No." She answers again.

"You…"

"No. No." She interrupts him.

"Ah!" He exclaims. "You don't know what I was going to say there."

She looks at him. "I was reasonably sure."

"Well, now you'll never know. It's gone forever."

"What were you going to say?" She faces him.

They both look at each other, he doesn't say anything. She gives him a look, as to say _"Exactly, you were going to say the exact same thing."_ And turns her back again.

He walks towards her and steps next to her. The city is their scenario now and Dan whishes to be like this together, but he doesn't want to be delusional and fool himself, he still tries though. With his weird sense of humor, he tries. "You're 36 now and you look like it."

"Fuck you." She tells him, she doesn't usually swear but when she does, he usually is the one in her presence.

"And next year you're 37 and two years from that you're going to be 39 and then 40 and after 40 you might as well die."

"Thanks." Blair tells him not thankful at all.

"If your husband… if your husband decides that you are too old for him to be lovable…" Dan begins, "…I will gladly tolerate you in your golden years."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dan continues, "I'll walk you, and water you, and… I'll feed you." He smiles. Blair smiles too.

"Will Olivia live with us?"

"Of course not." Dan answers way too quickly, "She will… settle down with an actor, or a movie producer, who knows, someone who moves in her same environment."

"You will leave her for me." She doesn't say it as a question because Dan had made it clear many times tonight that still, after all this time, he will leave anyone for Blair in an instant.

"She will be the one to left me."

"Wisely." She tells him and adds, "Would we still fight?"

"No. Not all, we'll passed all that. If anything, we will only have our usual banter, here and there, nothing too serious."

"And what would we do? Play bingo on Sunday nights?"

"Please," Dan answers her, "We are way pass bingo, we will play scrabble as the intellectual snobs you know we are. Except when we are traveling, when we travel there is no scrabble, and that is a rule we are going to establish now."

"And where are we going to travel?"

"The question is where are we not going to travel? We are traveling anywhere… Guatemala, Russia, Greece, even The Dominican Republic."

"Nowhere in particular? You seem to forget I'm a little too picky." Blair says, "Maybe I'm not picky by then, maybe you manage to actually change that part of me so we would only have to spin a globe and travel to wherever our fingers land."

"And the sex…"

"Well," Blair thinks about it, "You know what? I've been in poor health since my forties so there isn't much of that."

"Is better that way, probably."

"Yeah" Blair agrees and then adds, "We sleep in separate beds."

"But sometimes I push them together."

"Why?"

"Because I remember how you looked liked before you were wrecked by old age," He tells her, "So once a week I close my eyes and rub up against you a little bit." He says the last part laughing and Blair joins him too.

"That's disgusting." She tells him.

"But you tolerate me because you know that I love you."

"Yeah, even when you're just a dirty old pervert."

"Yes I am, but I am your dirty old pervert."

Blair looks at him and then whispers, "Lucky me"

Dan looks at her for a while and then says, "And then, when we are really, really old; we agree to end it. We'll take poison, like Romeo and Juliet…"

"How cliché of you, Humphrey."

"…And we'll hold hands and both our hearts will stop."

"Only my poison, like Juliet's, is not. It is a faux elixir. So you think I'm dead, but I'm not."

"Right. I forgot that part."

"So about ten minutes after you die for good, I wake up."

"And what do you do?"

"Well, I'm really sad that you are dead and everything but, I think about it well; I was never the kind of suicide girl. So, I pack my bags, and take the first flight to London," Dan looks at her between bewilderment and a little amused, "and back to my real husband."

"Romantic."

"Yes." Blair says smiling and then suddenly asks, "What time is it?"

Dan checks his watch. "It's late."

"How..?"

"It's late."

"How late?" She says leaning on to take a glimpse of his watch.

"I should probably lie to you." He says but Blair already saw the hour, "Ok, it's 3:15 a.m."

"No!" Blair shouts and starts running towards her room. Dan as always, follows her. When they are in her room again she tells him, "I'm going to get a quick shower. Can you please make sure that I have everything packed, please?"

Her nerve. But she is too quick and is already in the bathroom so Dan can't say no. He doesn't even know how he got into this place, well, of course he knows but he didn't imagine he will end the night like this. He thought that if he saw her he was going to ignore her and if he talked to her he will make sure she knew what she had missed. God, he failed miserably. But he couldn't control himself, he just couldn't. For someone so sure of himself he destroyed his own walls every time he was with Blair Waldorf.

"Glad I ran into you," He yells at the bathroom door, hoping that she is hearing him. "Glad we saw each other after all this time." He is being honest and he hopes she is hearing him; he wants her to hear this, "I have imagined this so often, you know?" he pauses; "Tomorrow I will wonder if it happened at all." He makes sure everything is packed.

"I'm glad I ran into you," He repeats a little bit louder this time, in case she didn't heard him before, for he hopes that she hears him. "But somehow I feel much lonelier than I felt before." He pauses again, "Yeah… I used to think I could call you, have lunch, and even get married again. As simple as that." He thinks he is done packing everything, except her bridesmaid's dress, it doesn't fit in her luggage. "The promise of all those old romantic films we used to watch, those dreams fulfilled. Spilled milk that gets back into its jar; broken teacups miraculously reassembled…" He sighs, "You know, time can really move in two directions. It doesn't matter to the universe anyway. Which is to say… which is to say… which is…"

He hears that Blair is done with her shower. He hears that water is not running anymore and he hopes more than ever that she is listening to him. "I don't know. Which is to say that I thought that we could still turn out. Now everything seems so much definite. It seems so much real. It seems so much terminal." He pauses and thinks, "No spilled milk will get back to its jar; and a broken teacup is always a broken teacup." He sits in the bed, "You know, it is funny because everyone thinks they shouldn't mention you to me. But the omission… the omission only makes it worst. I like to hear about you sometimes."

"I love you," Dan tells her and he is still hoping that behind that door he is listening to him, "For better or for worse, you can take that on your travels." He notices that her wallet is near him, he is curious enough to open it. "Shit." He finds pictures of little girls; honestly, what was he expecting?

Just then Blair opens the door, "Where you saying something? I couldn't hear you because of the water." Either she didn't heard him or she decides to ignore him.

"Nothing important." Dan manages to say while still looking at her wallet.

Blair glances at him and gets near him enough to point at a picture in her wallet, "That's my husband."

Dan then shows her the pictures of the little girls. "That is Anya, she is nine years old." Dan points at another picture, "And that is Eliza, she is fourteen years old."

"They look like a handful."

"They're not bad."

"Are they… are they yours?"

"No, they belong to another woman."

He doesn't know if she is being sarcastic or not so he decides to push, "Are they from your husbands' first marriage?"

"Yes. You are probably wondering about their names, well, my husband is also an Audrey enthusiast just like me, weird in a man, I know, but I swear it is the only weird thing he has."

"So he watches movies with you?"

"Well of course we watch a movie now and then but if you are wondering Humphrey, and I know you do, don't worry, we don't watch movies as much as you and I used to, we do other things."

"Your bridesmaid dress didn't fit in your luggage." That is the only thing he can say.

"Can you do me a favor and give it back to your sister? She can send it to the original seventh bridesmaid."

"I don't think that is a good idea. You are not supposed to give it back."

"Well then, you can keep it. A souvenir of your _conquest_."

"No, Olivia might ask questions and…"

"Yeah, of course." Blair says, "Can you throw it away on your way home? I don't care…"

Dan just grabs the dress, opens the window, and throws it away.

"Hey!" Blair says walking towards the window as well, "That is not what I had in mind."

The cell phone rings, seems like her phone so she opens it and see's the caller ID. "It is Olivia." She passes the cell phone to Dan and encourages answering it. Dan ignores the call. "That is two times she calls while you're with me, if I'm not wrong." She tells him.

"Well, good thing she called again because our cell phones are the same. You could have taken mine and I could have taken yours. Imagine if your husband called, because unlike you, I would have answered the phone."

"You wouldn't…"

"Don't dare me." They switch phones and now they have their own phones.

"I have been meaning to ask you something, Blair. Can I… can I ask you?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"Blair," Dan says to her looking at her eyes, "It is serious."

"Yes you can, but I don't guarantee that I answer it."

"I want you to answer my question," Dan tells her, "Anyway, is… the thing is; I want to know. What happened?"

"I already told you Dan, I didn't want you to realize someday that you deserved better. Because you deserve better, you deserve the best, and I have proven to you that I am not the best. I left you after all."

"But Blair, what if I told you I don't deserve what you think is the best? I deserve you, I want you. For me, you are the best. And I would have never had second thoughts. Never. Can't you see that?"

"Dan, you have to stop begging me to come back. I am not coming back. I realize now that you were never going to had second thoughts; but I left you, I made a choice and that is not something you can't just forget. I don't want you to forget."

"But I will, I will forget… in fact, it is done."

"But would you forgive?"

Dan couldn't answer her as quickly as he wanted. The fact is that he feared that what Blair told him was right. He wasn't 100% sure that he could forgive.

"You have your answer." Blair tells him.

"Are you happy at least?" He asks her for the second time tonight.

"As much as I can be." Blair answers him sincerely, "When I left you I didn't knew if I could love again, if my heart could love again, I had made too many mistakes but with my husband, it is different. It is light, and I have to confess, is not the same love we share, and if it is, it is not with the same intensity. And the girls, I have learned to love them as my own. I can't see myself just leaving them; with them is where I belong."

Dan wants to tell her that she belongs with him but refrains from doing so. "That reminds me of something else I wanted to ask you."

"Go on."

"When you left me, I know, I know you were pregnant… what happened?"

"I told you about my accident. I was hit by a car."

Dan wanted to cry, not this. He couldn't manage this. Earlier when she mentioned the accident he did wondered, but because she didn't mentioned anything he just assumed the best. "You lost the baby…?" It was all that he managed to ask.

She didn't answer him; she was holding her tears too. They looked at each other and after she managed to compose herself said, "I don't know what I'm telling you this but, I can't have children; I can't get pregnant. I discovered it when my husband and I were trying to have children of our own. I went to the doctor and she told me that after two traumatic miscarriages, in the physical sense because they were caused by accidents, but I guess you can add emotional trauma as well; my body was not able to hold a baby anymore. I know you were listening when I was talking to my husband in the bathroom and you heard that I told him that I was _thinking about_ something. I want you to know that we are thinking about adopting, and I think I'm going to accept it. I know it sounds selfish but I wanted to keep hope and get pregnant, you know, experience motherhood right from the start. But I realize now that adopting is the same, you love your child the same, I will love my child the same. I think I'm telling you this because I want you to know that in spite of what happened tonight, I am not leaving him. I want a family, and I want it with him. If I had your child I would had loved him or her with all my soul. Maybe things would have turn out differently, I don't know. But things are not that way and now I know where my place is."

He looks at her, she looks at him. And he has the sudden urge to hug her so he does. And they stay there, hugging each other for what seems like hours, it feels like goodbye.

He gets dressed while she gets dressed and when they are both ready they leave the room and the hotel together. He stops a taxi for her. Just when she is about to get in he asks her, "Then what was the purpose of tonight? If you know where your place is, why did you came?"

"Do you want me to tell you that I was hoping to see you?"

"Yes, and I want you to mean it."

"I did came back to see you, for a last time. I needed it, and I think you needed it too. We needed this… this… closure. You got to say what you wanted to say and God knows I said what I wanted to say."

"I guess you are right, I needed this as much as you needed it, even more."

"What I said before… I meant it. You can't continue living like this."

"I know." And he meant it as well. They looked at each other and he realized that this was it, It will probably be the last time he saw her. He knew she didn't have any links to New York anymore, to him. So he allowed himself a last kiss, she allowed herself a last kiss as well, it was a short but sweet one.

They look at each other again, contemplating each other and then he closes the door for her. And she leaves. She is gone. He doesn't follow this time.

He waits for a while before he takes a taxi as well. "You care which way I go?" The taxi driver asks him. "I don't care" He answers.

Meanwhile Blair is in her taxi thinking about everything. What had just happened. She didn't left anything unsaid, she feels at peace. "You care which way I go?" The taxi driver asks her. "No." She answers.

"My sister got married last night." Dan tells his taxi driver.

"Congratulations."

"I want her to do great, but I have a feeling. I think she's going to be unhappy. "

"I wouldn't worry. These things work themselves out."

"You're not from here, are you?" Blair's taxi driver asks her because he notices her slight accent.

"No." Blair answers him, "I used to be from here, but not anymore."

"Are you married?" Dan asks his taxi driver.

"Yes."

"Happy?"

"Happy enough." The taxi driver answers Dan.

"Good for you." Dan tells him, "It is good to be happy." He pauses, "But it is so fucking hard."

**THE END.**

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_I really wish you enjoyed this last chapter. Please, please, let me hear what you think. This is the last chapter after all and I know there are many people that read this even when there are not too many reviews. I really hope you liked it, I mean, aside of they not ending together. But I think this story was more of closure than anything._


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